Tobacco

Some truckstop and travel plaza operators still derive a substantial portion of their sales from tobacco products. Because this is such a heavily regulated area, it is imperative that NATSO members understand their legal obligations as tobacco retailers.

In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This legislation gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and retail sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. FDA has also finalized a rule expanding its authority to cover e-cigarettes as well as traditional cigarettes. This will subject e-cigarettes to similar sales and marketing restrictions that are currently applicable to cigarettes.

FDA is currently working with state enforcement agencies to conduct undercover inspections of tobacco retailers to ensure that they are complying with federal requirements. NATSO has prepared a document outlining the various issues that these inspections will cover, as well as how retailers should respond if they are accused of violating the law.

Tobacco-Related Summary and Compliance Guides For Truckstops and Travel Plazas

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The Food and Drug Administration issued a proposal March 13 to restrict sales of flavored e-cigarettes and require that retailers establish adult-only areas or take other steps to limit access to flavored e-cigarettes to anyone under age 18. The move marks the latest in a string of aggressive steps targeting convenience stores and other smaller format retail establishments that sell tobacco and e-cigarette products, including truckstops, in recent weeks.

In the last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken several aggressive steps that target convenience stores and other smaller format retail establishments that sell tobacco and e-cigarette and vaping products. It is part of a growing history of FDA Administrator Scott Gottlieb targeting the convenience store industry. Last year, in a televised interview on CNBC, Administrator Gottlieb specifically mentioned "truckstops" when citing stores that do not sufficiently comply with underage tobacco sales restrictions. NATSO is very troubled by such remarks and any effort to specifically target travel centers or convenience stores.

In a policy statement issued Nov. 15, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the agency’s decision to move forward with significant restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration has put the makers of electronic cigarettes on notice that they have sixty days to demonstrate that they can keep their devices away from minors, warning that failure to do so could resulting in flavored electronic cigarette products being removed from the market. The FDA also announced that it was sending letters to more than one thousand retailers, including convenience stores and fuel retailers -- along with issuing fines for selling e-cigarettes to minors.